Numerical Studies of Entanglement of Atoms Trapped in an Optical Lattice

An optical lattice is an experimental system in which atoms are trapped in regularly spaced potential energy wells created by lasers. When these atoms are cooled to temperatures on the order of microKelvin, they are,... [ view full abstract ]

An optical lattice is an experimental system in which atoms are trapped in regularly spaced potential energy wells created by lasers. When these atoms are cooled to temperatures on the order of microKelvin, they are, classically, trapped in these wells and only change position via quantum tunneling. The Bose-Hubbard model, where bosonic atoms hop from site to site on a chain of sites, is an accurate model of these atoms’ behavior. Optical lattices of this type are interesting because they allow the creation of a quantum system that can be tuned to engineer entanglement between atoms, a necessary step toward building a quantum computer. In this project we will use numerical simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model to compute the entanglement entropy of two halves of an optical lattice system. Previous work has studied code this system for neutral atoms with short-range interactions here we will build on this previous work to allow for long-range interaction between atoms or molecules, such as dipole-dipole interactions. These calculations allow us to gain better understand entanglement in potential future experiments that have longer range interactions between particles.